On campus of Florida Gulf Coast, Sweet 16 is surreal

Improbable run has fans locally and across the nation pulling for a team that has brought their brand of bravado to an often-stuffy NCAA tourney

By CHRIS ANDERSON

Gigi Meyer, a student at Florida Gulf Coast University, received a phone call from her father on Sunday night, just minutes after the Eagles made history in the NCAA basketball tournament.

“He had one word . . . ‘Wow,' ” she said. “He was amazed at how well they played.

“He really, really, wants the Eagles to win.''

Gigi Meyer's father happens to be Urban Meyer, the former football coach who won two national championships at the University of Florida.

Even he is pulling for FGCU.

And Florida just so happens to be FGCU's next opponent in the NCAA tournament Friday night in the Sweet 16 in Dallas.

Who saw this coming? FGCU, a 16-year-old university with a basketball program in only its second year of tournament eligibility, is now in the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed.

In 75 years, no 15 seed has ever won two games in the tournament. And counting the Eagles, only seven of the more than 100 teams seeded 15th have won one game.

First FGCU knocked off No. 2 Georgetown, 78-68, in the opening round, and most thought surely that would be it.

But then the Eagles beat San Diego State 81-71 Sunday night, and the magic carpet ride continues higher and higher.

“It's surreal,'' said FGCU guard Eddie Murray. “Just four days ago no one knew who we were or where we are, and now we've won over the nation.

“If you watch the news right now the whole nation wants us to beat the Gators and see the Cinderella story continue.''

They have captured the nation's fancy not only for defying such insurmountable odds, but also for their infusion of bravado and free-wheeling fresh air into a tournament that always seems to have its share of staid schools playing in it.

Think about it: When's the last time a player on Duke did the chicken dance?

And adding to the allure is the fact that few outside of Lee County seem to know anything about FGCU, or even where the school is (it is located off exit 128 on I-75, just south of Fort Myers).

A CBS graphic over the weekend called the school “Florida Golf Coast'' and coach Steve Fisher of San Diego State referred to the school as “Florida State” and he even owns a condo close to FGCU.

“No one had ever heard of FGCU,'' said coach Andy Enfield, whose wife, model Amanda Marcum, was once on the cover of Vogue. “There's like 18 different ways people have put our school on television and I just kind of laugh.

How can you not pull for these guys? This is a team that lost to Maine this season. Maine! And now they are about to play the Florida Gators in Cowboys Stadium — which cost $1.15 billion to build and holds 80,000 people — on national television.

“It's very magical,'' said Sherwood Brown, the dreadlocked star of the team. “It's a dream come true for all of us. A lot of us, we could only dream of being in the NCAA tournament and now we're in the Sweet 16.''

The impact two wins on a basketball court has had on the school is nothing short of astounding. There are roughly 11,000 undergraduates at the school, but national visibility has increased interest tremendously.

“I heard before we played Georgetown we had about 3,000 new students coming in, and after that game it boosted it to over 10,000,'' said Brown. “It's amazing.''

Thousands of students greeted the team at 3 a.m. Monday morning on its return from Philadelphia, and Enfield said there was an hour-long wait to get into the school bookstore later in the morning for Eagles gear.

“This has changed this university,'' said FGCU baseball coach Dave Tollett, a former coach at Charlotte High. “It's affected everything. Now people know who we are. There's no more ‘FGC-who' anymore.”

ESPN was on campus in the afternoon conducting interviews with Brown and Enfield, and a deafening pep rally was attended by roughly 4,000 fans and students Monday night.

“It's given us national exposure,'' said Enfield. “The website hits are through the roof. The amount of exposure, I don't know what the value is, but I don't think there's enough money in the coffers to pay for that type of advertising.''

Florida is clearly a football state, and FGCU is in the middle of a high school football hotbed, but the university does not have a team. But the basketball team may have compensated for years of football revenue in one weekend.

“You could have a football program for 20 years playing at the I-AA level and never get the exposure of the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament,'' said Enfield.

“We're doing this on a shoestring budget versus spending millions of dollars for a football program. I love football and I hope this university gets a football team, but what the NCAA tournament can provide from an exposure standpoint is much greater than a football program unless you're going to the Sugar Bowl every year.''

Enfield, a former NBA assistant coach with Boston and Milwaukee, said he received over 1,000 texts, emails and voicemails over the weekend. Included were between 15 and 20 former NBA players and people he hasn't heard from in 25 years.

“They said, ‘Coach, I saw your name and I almost ran off the side of the road,' ” he said.

One email came from a Gator fan that read: “Coach, don't even bother to show up Friday. The Gators are going to kick your butt.''

Brown, meanwhile, has talked to former NBA great Reggie Miller and the team has received Tweets from rapper Lil Wayne and Miami Heat superstar LeBron James.

“We're really enjoying it right now,'' said Brown. “We could have never imagined anything like this.